1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to chargeable broadcasting system, more particularly to a chargeable broadcasting system adapted for a meter rate charging.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a form of television broadcast there is a chargeable broadcasting system. This is a system in which a viewer/listener purchases only those programs that he desires. That is, he views/listens to only those programs which he desires to view/listen to by paying for them.
In such a chargeable broadcasting system, it is necessary that the broadcasting station is addressable to individual viewer/listener for the purpose of fee management.
In this sense, the conventional method of distributing the radio waves uniformly to all the viewers/listeners is not suited for the chargeable broadcasting system. In contrast with this, in the system of connecting the broadcasting station with individual viewer/listener with wires, the broadcasting station can address individual viewer/listener so that it is possible to identify and collect the information on the individual viewer/listener, and such a system is actually being tried.
However, this systems requires one to connect the broadcasting station with the contracting viewers/listeners using wires so that it is not suited for the case when the viewers/listeners are scattered over a wide geographical region. Therefore, it is desirable in realizing the above chargeable broadcasting system to utilize radio waves, rather than wires, in the same way as is currently done, for the reason of flexibility of the system. However, it has never been employed as an actual chargeable broadcasting system due to the reason that it is not possible to achieve an effective collection of data pertaining to viewing/listening.